This invention is generally directed to a system for encasing materials, such as poultry or other materials, in plastic bags. The poultry industry sells fowl either as whole dressed birds or as cut-up parts. A consumer can buy a whole dressed chicken, can buy one dressed chicken cut up into parts, or can buy a package of, for example, just legs or just wings. In the two latter situations, the chicken parts are placed on a disposable tray, typically styrofoam, in order to hold the parts together. Some poultry producers place whole dressed birds on these trays also.
The prior art method to encase the product is a heat-seal process. The tray and product are wrapped in a clear plastic material which is then exposed to heat, shrinking the wrapping material and sealing the package. The advantage to the heat-sealing process is that it wraps the product very tightly. In the case of products such as poultry, a tighter package presents a better appearance to consumers. There is an increased marketing advantage to more tightly wrapped packages. Accordingly, the tighter the package can be wrapped, the more advantageous the system.
The disadvantage to the heat-sealing system is that the heat-sealed packages tend to leak. The packaging for any material encased by this method that has any liquid will, sooner or later, leak that liquid. “Leakers” are a problem both for the sellers such as grocery stores and for consumers, as the leaked fluid must be cleaned from the display case, refrigerator, or anywhere else it spilled. Chicken blood in particular is a problem, as it may contain bacteria and must be cleaned quite thoroughly.
A solution to the leaking problem is to use plastic bags to encase the products. A plastic bag that is clipped provides a better sealed package than one subjected to the heat-sealing process. Clipped bags are accordingly less likely to leak.
It is difficult, however, to place an object, such as a chicken, in a bag the exact same size as the chicken. Using a bag larger than the chicken eases the bagging process. The larger bag detracts from the appearance of the package, however, as the chicken is not tightly wrapped. There is also an increased cost to using larger bags.
It is also difficult to place a tray containing a chicken into a bag, since the parts must remain upright until securely wrapped. It is also mechanically difficult to place material on a tray into a bag and also maintain a tight fit, because of the relatively rigid structure of the tray. The use of a larger bag eases the process of placing the loaded tray into the bag, but the material on the tray will then likely fall off the tray later, such as during loading or in transit, defeating the whole purpose of using a tray. Accordingly, trayed chicken, whether whole or cut-up parts, is generally not bagged in the poultry industry.
Additionally, there is a manufacturing and marketing advantage to wrapping a whole chicken in a properly hocked position. A hocked chicken has the thighs of the legs held in close proximity to the sides of the carcass of the chicken. However, the legs of chickens tend to stick outward, up and away from the body, after slaughter. This position makes it difficult to encase a chicken, especially in a bag, and presents an unpleasing appearance to consumers. Consumers looking at a raw chicken in a grocery case will tend to respond more favorably to a chicken wrapped in a hocked position, as opposed to a chicken wrapped in an unhocked position.
Various methods have been used in the prior art to hold the legs of a chicken in a hocked position for presentation to consumers. Traditionally, of course, the legs were tied together with string. Other devices have been described. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,977, Poultry Trussing Device, describes the use of a bent wire device to hold the legs together. U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,519, Chicken Hock Device, describes the use of a plastic device to hold the legs together. These solutions add another step to the process, and accordingly increase the capital, labor, and material costs of encasing a chicken for market.
Additionally, marketers of products usually wish to display their trade names, trade dress, or logos on the packaging. Marketers sometimes also wish to display other information, such as warnings or instructions, on the packaging. It is less expensive to preprint the packaging material. Adding one or more labels after packing adds an extra cost. Printing directly onto the package after packing is very expensive. Accordingly, the use of preprinted packaging material is desired. Forcing a chicken or a tray of chicken parts into a very tight plastic bag, however, causes random distortion of the printing on the bag, disfiguring the preprinted information. Similarly, the heat-sealing process described above causes severe distortion of any printed information on the wrapping material.
Consequently, for heat-sealed packages, one or more separate labels must be used for any information such as brand identification or cooking instructions. This placement of separate labels, of course, adds an additional cost.
One method presently known to the poultry industry to preprint information on the packaging of whole dressed chickens is to use bags slightly larger than the average chicken. As described above, however, the use of larger bags presents a less appealing appearance to consumers and increases material costs.
A method presently known to encase a chicken in a very tight bag without distortion of the printed material is to shrink the bag with heat after the chicken is in the bag. This method requires specialized, expensive wrapping material.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and method of encasing material such as poultry, including whole dressed birds and whole dressed birds on trays, in a properly hocked position, in order to provide a pleasing appearance to consumers and to ease the process of putting the bird into a bag. Additionally, there is a need for an apparatus and method of encasing material such as poultry, including whole dressed birds and whole dressed birds on trays, in tightly wrapped bags, in order to provide a pleasing appearance to consumers, to prevent “leakers”, to lower costs, and to provide and maintain printing on the packaging. The present invention meets these needs.